Indiana lawmakers probe Ball State over intelligent design

Ball State students walk along McKinley Street during a passing period Monday afternoon.
Jordan Kartholl/ The Star Press Ball State students walk along McKinley Street during a passing period Monday afternoon.(Photo: Jordan Kartholl/ The Star Press, Jordan Kartholl/ The Star Press)

MUNCIE – State lawmakers are investigating Ball State University’s decision to prohibit the teaching of intelligent design in a science course.

BSU President Jo Ann Gora concluded last summer that intelligent design is overwhelmingly regarded by the scientific community as a religious belief and not a scientific theory.

A “Boundaries of Science” class taught by Eric Hedin, an assistant professor of physics, allegedly promoted the idea that nature displays evidence of intelligent design, as opposed to an undirected process like evolution.

Four legislators, including Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, chairman of the Education Committee, say “serious questions have been raised about whether academic freedom, free speech and religious liberty have been respected by BSU in its treatment of professor Hedin, its subsquenet establishment of a speech code restricting faculty speech on intelligent design, and its cancellation of professor Hedin’s ... class,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Gora this week.

The letter also expresses concerns about whether a faculty review panel appointed to investigate complaints against Hedin “was filled with persons with conflicts of interest, who were predisposed to be hostile to his viewpoint.”

Because the university has declined to release the review panel’s report, “we feel unable to judge whether the investigation was fair and impartial,” the lawmakers wrote.

The letter gives Gora until the end of business on March 24 to answer the following question: “Does the policy forbid science professors from explaining either their support or rejection of intelligent design in answer to student questions about intelligent design in class?”

The letter concludes, “In order to determine if legislative action is required, we feel obligated to investigate whether BSU has acted in accord with state educational policy, legal requirements, and BSU’s own published standards.”

Kruse and fellow Republican legislators Travis Holdman, Greg Walker and Jeffrey Thompson also say they are “disturbed by reports that while you restrict faculty speech on intelligent design, BSU authorized a seminar that teaches ‘Science Must Destroy Religion.’ ”

In the past few years, Kruse has unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation mandating the teaching of creationism and allowing prayer in public schools.

‘Dangerous Idea’

BSU spokesman Tony Proudfoot said the legislators apparently were referring to Honors 390A, “Dangerous Ideas,” which uses a book titled, “What is Your Dangerous Idea?”

One essay in the book is titled “Science Must Destroy Religion.” Proudfoot says other essays in the book include these titles: “Science May Be Running Out of Control,” “Science Will Never Silence God,” and “Religion is the Hope that is Missing in Science.”

“This is not a seminar that teaches that ‘Science Must Destroy Religion,’ “ Proudfoot said. “That phrase is simply the title of one four-page essay among 109 others.”

He added, “It is important to note that this is an honors colloquium with honors credit. It is neither a science class bearing science credit nor a religion class bearing religion credit.”

Beyond that, Proudfoot said the university is limited in what it can say about the situation with Hedin because it’s a personnel matter.

“However, as we have shared previously, Dr. Hedin's academic credentials are an asset to the university,” Proudfoot said. “He remains an important and valued member of our physics and astronomy department.”

Kruse is tied up with legislative business this week and was unavailable for comment, his press secretary said.

‘Kangaroo committee’

The legislators are acting on behalf of The Discovery Institute, an intelligent design think tank, whose vice president, John West, told The Star Press he is hopeful the legislative investigation will force Ball State to release the report of the faculty review panel, which West called “an ad hoc kangaroo committee.”

“That report should be public so the public can judge whether what happened was fair or biased or whatever,” West said.

He noted the legislators’ letter noted that they plan to ask Ball State more questions in the future.

“Ball State ought to be careful,” West said. “I think their mishandling of this could turn into a much bigger deal. Certainly, we are not going away. The speech code against intelligent design is vague and too broad and may not be being applied evenhandedly. We determined through public documents one science class is covering intelligent design in order to bash it. If they allow that, it’s tantamount to state endorsement of an anti-religious view.”

Discovery Institute officials have been meeting with the legislators.

“If Ball State isn’t more transparent ... it is risking legislative intervention,” West said. “Sen. Kruse is head of the Education Committee, so I believe he has some oversight over ... higher education. In the tool kit of legislators, you have funding ... and you also could have legislation that would create another investigative mechanism, or set up an ombudsman with power to get data and investigate things from outside the university to deal with academic freedom complaints.”

Search for mole

Ball State has been contesting Discovery Institute attempts to determine if an employee of the university has been feeding information to evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, a professor at the University of Chicago.

The institute is seeking access to any emails between any Ball State faculty and Coyne, who was instrumental in getting BSU to crack down on Hedin’s course. The institute suspects a Ball State faculty member contacted Coyne, known for his blogs attacking intelligent design, in an unsuccesful attempt to sabotage Ball State’s hiring of Guillermo Gonzalez as an assistant professor of astronomy. Like Hedin, Gonzalez is an advocate of intelligent design.

“That’s crazy,” Coyne said of the institute’s suspicions. “I made it clear I didn’t think Guillermo Gonzalez or Eric Hedin should be fired. The question was whether religion can be taught as if it were science. Like president Gora said, it’s not only wrong but illegal to represent religion as if it were science.”

He added, “The Discovery Institute is hurt because they lost, so they’re trying to make trouble. This is a watershed thing, the first time the issue of intelligent design came up in a university as opposed to a high school or elementary school. Ball State was the first time they tried, and it failed.”